Stephen Goldstein: Tax money for stadium is an insult

February 15, 2013

Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us over and over again, we've gotta be stupid or nuts.

Bilking, fleecing, hoodwinking, scam, socialism, come-on — there aren't enough words in the thesaurus to describe Big Sport's latest insult to our collective intelligence and good will. By now, contrary to all the pie-in-the-skybox feasibility studies, after indisputable proof taxpayer investments (aka corporate welfare) in stadiums don't pay off, you would think that anyone in South Florida would be embarrassed to defend the latest proposal for yet another likely boondoggle.

But, to my astonishment, my dueling partner Kingsley Guy believes taxpayers should pay for half of the $400 million that Miami Dolphin's owner Stephen Ross proposes to spend to renovate Sun Life Stadium. And, among others, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce supports giving the Dolphins an annual $3-million state subsidy for 30 years and about $9 million a year in hotel taxes.

Apparently, the renovations are needed because football fans are myopic wimps. Much of the public's mega-bucks would pay for huge HD video screens and a super-duper-looking canopy to make life extra-comfy for patrons by sheltering them from "the rain and oppressive heat" (Kingsley's words). I feel for them — not! In the spirit of free enterprise, why don't the Dolphins leave taxpayers alone, sell discomforted fans souvenir umbrellas — and make a profit?

Why not? Because they want to risk as little of their money as necessary on a losing proposition and they think they've got the leverage to raid the public treasury. I've heard all the specious, halo-effect arguments Kingsley makes every time Big Sports wants a hand-out from taxpayers. I'm amazed he could still be taken in.

First, Kingsley's been wowed by the money-will-trickle-down-to-area-businesses argument. Any money taxpayers would give the Dolphins will be in real dollars. But all we get are estimates of the return on our investment — and no way to hold the team accountable if it doesn't meet them.

Kingsley and others try to scare us with the sham over-the-barrel argument. They argue that we'll lose future Super Bowls to other more modern stadiums unless we roll over for the Dolphins. But our weather puts us in a class by ourselves. Let the NFL go elsewhere and play in the snow a few times—and they'll pay us to play in Florida forever. (And by the way, when the Super Bowl is held in Florida, there's no tax on tickets. Big Football never wants to pay its fair share.)

There's also the flimflam community pride argument. Simply having sports franchises, especially losers, is a lame reason to boast — until we finally have world-class education, health care, social services, public transportation, and full employment.

And finally, there's the silly marketing-of-South-Florida argument: freezing Northerners watching playing-in-sunshine Dolphins will be tweaked to book a Florida vacation, as though anyone doesn't know where it's warmest in America.

The Dolphins' lopsided deal is referred to as a public-private partnership. But it's more to their benefit than the public's or they wouldn't do it. If the team wants public support, it should give Miami-Dade an ownership stake in the team for its millions. Or, it could float bonds for the renovations and pay interest to private investors. Otherwise, Big Football and Kingsley are out to sell us more pigskin-in-a-poke. But none of us should buy it.

Contact Stephen L. Goldstein on Twitter @drslgoldstein or by email at trendsman@aol.com.